September '19 FAQ: Orky edition

[toaae]

The September 2019 FAQ, also known as the Fall Big FAQ 2, has come out, and despite having 0 beta matched play rules and no balance changes, there are still a few things that will change some minor ways Orks play. I present what I've found. This list is probably not exhaustive, as I only looked through what I figured where relevant FAQs (Rulebook and Ork):

 

• They fixed Grotsnik to only charge in YOUR charge phase. I'll be honest, I didn't even realize it previously just said "the charge phase".
• They clarified how many dice you roll for Nobz Keepin' Order ability
• They changed a previous ruling for Nobz, restricting them to either 2 pieces of wargear from one list, or 1 piece from the second list. This means Nobz can no longer use Kombi-weapons and a Choppa/Big Choppa/Killsaw/ect.
• You can only take transports for units that actually take up a detachment slot. I think this only applies to us as Runtherdz don't count for taking Trukks
• When using multiple abilities to re-roll dice, you have to declare them all before re-rolling one. This applies to us with Charging and 'Ere We Go. A common technique was if you rolled, say, a 4 and a 2, and you need 8", you would use 'Ere We Go on the 2. If it came up as a 2-3, you would then use the command point re-roll to reroll the 4, hoping to get higher and finish the charge. Now, you'd have to declare you're going to use the command point re-roll before re-rolling the first dice, basically removing that technique from our pool.
• They clarified that it's fully intended and not-gamey to get more than two ranks in CC.

   

   

I think that's it. I'm bummed that Nobz conversions just got hosed, but the only actual "nerf" would be re-rolling charges, which, to be fair, isn't like an every-turn thing. The clarification on how many guys get to fight in CC isn't a change of any kind, but by removing that cloud of "what is RAI?" they've probably made a lot of Ork's lives easier, as that should be an argument that pops up less.

Thoughts? Any changes I missed?

[tvih]

Late to the party but... More than two ranks into CC intended? The 32mm bases certainly say otherwise. I'm still trying to get started with changing over to 32mm bases.

[Wolf Lord Duregar]

It even says so in the rules? They mention fighting in two ranks iirc? Or maybe that was the FAQ, lol.. Anyways, kinda needed after wading forward into all firepower certain armies throw out really.. And it should be a swirling melee, not old WHFB ordely ranks, eh? ;)

 

Ah, missed that combi-skorcha & choppa update.. Almost modelled a few Nobz with that *phew*!

[toaae]

Late to the party but... More than two ranks into CC intended? The 32mm bases certainly say otherwise.

 

It even says so in the rules? They mention fighting in two ranks iirc?

 

So the rules say:

 

To target an enemy unit, the attacking model must either be within 1" of that unit, or within 1" of another model from its own unit that is itself within 1" of that enemy unit. This represents the unit fighting in two ranks. 

 

Emphasis mine. And the FAQ answer:

 

Q: In the Fight phase rules, under Choose Targets, the third sentence states ‘This represents the unit fighting in two ranks’. Does this mean I should only fight in two ranks even if I can physically fit more than that (such as with 28mm and 32mm bases), or is this just an abstract description of what this rule does?

A: This was intended to be an illustrative piece of text, creating an image of how models further back would fight. It was not intended to limit the actual number of models that are able to fight. The number of models that can fight is described in the first and second sentence.

 

It's important to note that 32mm models can also achieve up to 4 ranks fighting when "honey-combing", IE, offsetting each row.

[tvih]

I find trying to optimally "honeycomb" at least any larger units to be just... a real pain the rear. Playing orks is too darn slow as it is. With 25mm bases you are/were automatically fighting with three rows. I suppose if I make some foam sheet or cardboard movement trays like I planned, I could try to get the honeycombing that way but it's certainly trickier to make. And even just having some bigger/protruding weapons on a model may make it hard or even impossible to get to fit into a base-to-base honeycomb. Some of my nobz are bound to be tricky for that reason.

 

As for FOUR ranks with 32mm, though? I don't see how that's physically possible. Since rows beyond the first have to be within 1" of the first row, even the third row just barely reaches that range when there's zero gap between bases.

[toaae]

It's possible because the 2nd row is within 1" of the enemy, and the 4th row is within 1" of the second row. Some madlad on reddit did the math proving it, but the gist is it's possible, though not easy, and not something I'd reliably rely on, like you often can with 25mm bases.

[tvih]

Ah true, when you considering honeycombing WITH the enemy line. But as pointed out even by the thread there it's very hard to pull off in practise for more than the occasional model, at which point just the measuring mess will take forever.

[Urauloth]

missed that combi-skorcha & choppa update.. Almost modelled a few Nobz with that *phew*!

Yikes, yes, I'm building some right now and I was very tempted to do that.